1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a therapeutic exercise apparatus, and more particularly, to an exercise and rehabilitation apparatus with multiple platforms that are mounted for sliding movement and can be interlocked in various ways and used with interchangeable accessories to provide a variety of exercise/therapeutic modalities.
2. Description of Related Art
Exercise equipment can be used for both physical exercise and rehabilitation therapies. Activities to those ends can take many forms, such as aerobic exercise for toning and cardiovascular health, resistance training (movement against resistance) for increasing strength, and stretching for flexibility. Resistance training strengthens muscles through specific movements requiring particular muscles or muscle groups to move against a resistance. The necessary resistance can be provided by elastic bands, free weights or weight machines, and/or body weight. Callisthenic exercises such as push-ups and squats that use the body's own weight to provide resistance are by their nature limited for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that the person's weight is both the minimum and the maximum available resistance to movement. Accordingly, many involved in strength training prefer to use separate weights or elastic bands. Aerobic exercise is often performed using machines such as treadmills, stationary bicycles, and other kinds of equipment, instead of running or cycling outside, for convenience or because of inclement weather.
Rehabilitation in the form of physical therapy is often required after many forms of surgery, illness, and traumatic injury. This can take the form of a combination of strength training, aerobic exercise, and stretching. In most cases, rehabilitation requires modalities that are adaptable to the specific movements required to perform the prescribed therapy, and must also be capable of adapting to improvements in the user's condition as the therapy proceeds. The versatility in exercise modalities necessary for effective physical therapy usually requires some sort of exercise apparatus, free weights, and/or elastic bands—in other words, some instrumentality besides a person's own body weight.
As noted, resistance training using weights other than one's body weight typically means free weights or machines designed to move a weight in a defined manner that concentrates on a particular group of muscles. For most people, this kind of weight training requires visiting a gym, since weight training machines or a complete set of free weights (barbells and dumbbells) can be very expensive and require a large space for storage. Likewise, machines designed for aerobic exercise are expensive and also require a lot of space. Thus, a trip to a gym is required for most people to use machines for aerobic exercise.
As a result, there have been many attempts to provide devices that can enable a user to perform one or more forms of exercise as conveniently as possible, usually in the home. Many of these devices are intended for easy transportation to enable exercise away from home, such as on business trips or vacations when the user cannot visit his or her regular exercise facility. Devices of this nature that have one or more sliding platforms are very popular, examples of one form or other of this kind of device being shown in the following patents and publications:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,559,986U.S. Pat. No. 3,582,069U.S. Pat. No. 3,620,530U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,786U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,590U.S. Pat. No. 6,368,254U.S. Pat. No. 6,837,838U.S. Pat. No. 7,294,100U.S. Pat. No. 7,850,578U.S. Pat. No. 7,931,570U.S. Pat. No. 7,955,229U.S. Pat. No. D225,342U.S. Pat. No. D225,343U.S. Pat. No. D622,787U.S. Pat. No. D623,244Pub. No. US 2003/0216230Pub. No. US 2007/0135280Pub. No. US 2009/0098983WO 1994/05374JP 61-05930JP 3145983 U
Many of these devices seek versatility in use. One example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,559,986. It uses a pair of separate frames, each having a track on which a sliding platform can be removably mounted. For one type of exercise modality both platforms are placed on the track of a single frame for movement closer and farther apart. For a second type of exercise modality the frames are positioned side by side with a platform on each, so that the platforms move parallel to each other. While this permits two kinds of exercising motion, it is cumbersome because it uses two separate frames that have to be repositioned for different exercises and the platforms must be moved from frame to frame depending on the exercise the user wishes to perform.
There are also devices that have frames with tracks having platforms that slide to and fro on the tracks. Examples of this type of device are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,786 and No. 7,850,578. Taking the '786 patent first, it discloses an exercise device with four platform slides mounted on four side-by-side tracks. The platforms can move independently, but there are a limited number of exercises that can be performed by four slides that can only move parallel to each other. An alternate embodiment replaces the two center slides with a single slide essentially spanning two tracks, which does not result in much more versatility. Moreover, the patent appears to intend this alternative construction to be a completely different device, not a reconfiguration capable of being performed by the user. The '578 patent discloses an exercise device with two side-by-side tracks. In one embodiment it has a platform slide mounted on each track and a single platform slide mounted across both tracks. This configuration actually provides little added versatility since the available exercise modalities are defined largely by the limited configurations of the device, resulting in limiting the user's exercise regimen to those exercises for which the device is specifically designed.
Another category of device disclosed in the above listed patents is intended for only one type of exercise. An example is the stationary crawler disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,582,069. This device has two sets of rails fixed side by side in a frame and two sliding platforms on each set of rails. The platforms can move relative to each other only in a predetermined fashion meant to simulate crawling on hands and knees as a form of physical therapy. That is, the user places his hands on the two front platforms and his knees on the two rear platforms, and a linkage system forces the two platforms on one set of rails to move toward each other as the two platforms on the other set of rails simultaneously move apart as if the user were crawling. No other type of exercise can be performed on this device.
What is missing from any known prior art is an apparatus that permits a user to reconfigure the apparatus quickly and easily so that it can be used to perform a multitude of exercise modalities, including physical therapy exercises. Those working in the art have previously recognized that multiple sliding platforms enable performance of a wide range of exercises, but the full versatility of this type of exercise apparatus has yet to be realized.